Elder Huo himself was the best example.
Although he had managed to open up to 87 Saint Veins, he was still no match for Gautama who had opened 85 Saint Veins.
Despite his innate talent being stronger than Gautama’s by a whole other level, his comprehensive strength was still far behind his. Otherwise, he would not have been imprisoned in the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda and become the pagoda spirit.
Upon hearing Elder Huo’s words, Duan Ling Tian nodded.
He had long heard about this from Xue Nai before.
Other than Saint Veins, there were still many other aspects that could affect one’s strength.
“So, it turns out that most of the characters from the ancient mythology in my past life didn’t come from Earth.” At that time, Duan Ling Tian also realized that he could only trust 50% of the ancient mythology from his past life as the other half was mostly fabricated by the later generations.
Right at that second, Duan Ling Tian did not realize that the gaze that Elder Huo used to look at him with now was very different from before. There was one more thing that he did not tell Duan Ling Tian.
He did not tell him that even the Gautama Buddha, who had opened 85 Saint Veins then, had only managed to open 13 Saint Veins when he first started on them. He had been far from being the equivalent to the current version of Duan Ling Tian now.
The reason he did not say it out loud was that he was worried that Duan Ling Tian would become too proud.
Soon, Elder Huo returned to the first level of the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda again.
Duan Ling Tian, on the other hand, had also closed his eyes again. However, instead of cultivating, he started to internally view the 15 Saint Veins in his body. Compared to the other meridians in his body, the 15 Saint Veins were like huge monsters.
The 15 Saint Veins sauntered inside Duan Ling Tian’s body like 15 Divine Dragons.
Those other meridians, on the other hand, appeared to be like inconspicuous, tiny snakes instead.
“Oh, my Dantian is actually gone.” Soon, Duan Ling Tian noticed that the Dantian at his lower abdomen had now disappeared. Instead, it was replaced by Saint Veins that intertwined with one another. All of these Saint Veins were heading in one direction: the spot between Duan Ling Tian’s eyebrows.
There was a Qi Sea at the spot in between Duan Ling Tian’s eyebrows. Only when he stretched out his Spiritual Energy there, he could see the Qi Sea.
Right then, the Qi Sea was only as large as a pigeon’s egg.
There was only a little bit of True Energy inside. There was not much of it at all.
This bit of True Energy was transformed from Duan Ling Tian’s original Origin Energy. Although it was inconspicuous, its strength was far from being comparable to the former Origin Energy in Duan Ling Tian’s body when it came to power.
The True Energy was an energy that was on a whole different level.
“The operating pathway of the Nine Dragons War Sovereign Technique has indeed passively been forced to undergo a transformation. This isn’t the Divine Dragon For, is it?” Soon, Duan Ling Tian noticed that his technique had undergone a transformation just like how Xue Nai had told him.
Xue Nai had informed him that once a Martial or Dao Cultivator transformed to the Mortal Shedding Stage, his techniques would, more or less, undergo a transformation too.
After taking a deep breath, Duan Ling Tian started to cultivate.
Right at that moment, the Heaven and Earth Spirit Energy on the second level of the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda gushed into his body ceaselessly along with the 15 Saint Veins based on the cultivation method of the Nine Dragons War Sovereign Technique.
After cultivating for a week, the Heaven and Earth Spirit Energy had also transformed to become True Energy and merged with his Qi Sea.
The amount of True Energy in his Qi Sea had grown a little bit more in a negligible manner.
However, Duan Ling Tian was not in a rush at all. Continuing to cultivate, he sucked in the True Energy in the second level of the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda non-stop and merged it into his body so that he could transform it into True Energy suitable for his own use.
“According to Xue Nai, I can only advance to the next level by the time the True Energy in my Qi Sea is fully filled.” Duan Ling Tian was familiar with the Mortal Shedding Stage because of Han Xue Nai.
“T-This is…” Duan Ling Tian who was focused on cultivating suddenly realized that when the Heaven and Earth Spirit Energy merged into his body and operated as it circled around his 15 Saint Veins, there was a streak of swift strange energy that suddenly appeared around the Heaven and Earth Spirit Energy.
At first, Duan Ling Tian still had not noticed this, but now that he did, upon closer inspection, he was shocked to discover that there seemed to be nine streaks of this strange energy. They seemed to be nine Divine Dragons that were twirling around the Heaven and Earth Spirit Energy.
It was only after the Heaven and Earth Spirit Energy had merged into his Qi Sea that these nine Divine Dragons finally disappeared.
“It looks like this is the true transformation of the Nine Dragons War Sovereign Technique,” Duan Ling Tian thought to himself.
“This must be the tenth form of the Nine Dragons War Sovereign Technique. The ninth form, the Divine Dragon Form, is no longer the last form. What am I supposed to call this tenth form then?” The Nine Dragons War Sovereign Technique had been left behind by the Rebirth Martial Emperor to Duan Ling Tian.
In the Rebirth Martial Emperor’s memory, there were only nine forms to the Nine Dragons War Sovereign Technique with the Divine Dragon Form being the last form.
However, right then, Duan Ling Tian had made a breakthrough to the Mortal Shedding Stage. For that reason, the Nine Dragons War Sovereign Technique had undergone changes. The mental cultivation method that he was nurturing was no longer the Divine Dragon Form.
“Or… How about I just call it the Nine Dragons Form?” With a jolt in his heart, Duan Ling Tian became even more delighted with the name as he pondered and christened the tenth form of the Nine Dragons War Sovereign Technique.
The Nine Dragons Form!
“True Energy…” Suddenly opening his eyes without warning, Duan Ling Tian stretched both of his arms out and at once, the True Energy in the Qi Sea surged out along the 15 Saint Veins, instantly gathering on his arms.
“That’s fast!” Duan Ling Tian finally learned about the benefits of having the Saint Veins.
The True Energy in his Qi Sea had all gathered in his arms in a second.
“If I had only one Saint Vein, I wonder how long would I have to wait to gather all of this True Energy onto my arms at once,” Duan Ling Tian thought to himself.
Boom! Boom!
With a raise of his hands, Duan Ling Tian burst two punches out.
Right away, the True Energy swept out and soared across the long sky, causing the air in the second floor of the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda to tremble as faint palm prints charged out powerfully and landed on the wall of the second level instantly.
A loud boom resonated and an impact wave swept out as though a hurricane had surged in the second level of the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda.
However, there was no sign of damage on the wall at all.
“What a powerful energy! My strength the last time can’t even compare to my strength now!” After going through the powerful force of the True Energy, Duan Ling Tian was completely consumed by bafflement.
Even though the wall was not damaged, he was not surprised at all. What a joke! This was the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda, an eminent Celestial Supreme Treasure. It would be even stranger if a palm print marked the wall.
“The Origin Energy in my body has now gone. I can no longer feel my Profundity as well. Right now, I have only True Energy left, but my Spiritual Energy is still with me.” Duan Ling Tian started to get accustomed to his own situation now.
“Right now, I should be able to use the Sun Shooting Bow normally.” After taking a deep breath, Duan Ling Tian’s heart skipped a beat and with a raise of his hand, a bow appeared in his hand. It was a tattered bow. Only the bowstring was intact on the entire bow.
There were ten dents on the bow and they were extremely ugly.
The bowstring was completely black with black halos gleaming around it, emanating a bloodcurdling aura.
It was the Five-Clawed Devil Dragon’s tendon!
“After I’ve made a breakthrough to the Mortal Shedding Stage, my body seems to have become much more powerful now.” Before Duan Ling Tian started activating his True Energy, he no longer sensed any pressure now that he was holding the Sun Shooting Bow in his hand. In fact, before he made a breakthrough, he would always feel an inexplicable pressure when relying on his brute strength, Origin Energy and Profundity to lift the Sun Shooting Bow up.
Nevertheless, right then, without even the need for his True Energy and just using his brute strength alone, he could handle the Sun Shooting Bow with ease. In other words, just his brute strength alone was already more powerful than all of the strength added up together before he made the breakthrough.
“Ahhh!” As though he was seized by a sudden impulse, Duan Ling Tian shouted out loudly without warning and his muscles bulked up right away. As he threw out a punch, his power tore through the long space.
At once, a gush of invisible energy swept out and soared into the sky as it set off a series of ear-deafening sounds. In the end, the invisible energy landed on the wall and set off a vast impact wave.
“It’s t-this powerful?” Duan Ling Tian was shocked. He realized that his brute strength was more or less on the same level as his True Energy power.
“If I add the True Energy to it…” The moment Duan Ling Tian thought of this, the True Energy in Duan Ling Tian’s Qi Sea swept out from the 15 Saint Veins once again and along with his brute strength, he punched out again without any reservation.
This time, all he heard was a whistling by his ears that was followed by a loud explosion.
The True Energy swept out along with his brute strength at a speed so fast that he could even barely catch it with his naked eye.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
…
At the same time, gushes of enormous hurricanes bounced off the walls and caused the robe on Duan Ling Tian’s body to flutter.
“That’s insanely powerful! With my current strength, I could stand a chance to win even if I were to go against a Martial or Dao Cultivator who is at the Intermediate Mortal Shedding Stage!” After experiencing the whole new level of strength in his body, Duan Ling Tian started to be overwhelmed by emotions.
How he wished to find seven to eight Martial or Dao Cultivators who were at the Early or Intermediate Mortal Shedding Stage to fight!
“Now that I’ve made a breakthrough, I have some strength to protect myself. I can’t stay here all the time anyway, so I guess, it’s time for me to leave.” As his train of thought shifted, Duan Ling Tian left the second level of the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda’s and returned to the cavern.
“Elder Huo, how long have I been cultivating?” Duan Ling Tian retrieved the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda and asked.
“Three years,” Elder Huo answered.
“What? T-Three years?!” Duan Ling Tian’s eyes narrowed right away as confusion filled his face. “T-Three years have gone now… I wonder whether my two children have been born already or not? Damn it! I must go back to Half Moon Island!”
He did not want to break his promise.
Since he had already promised that he would be back when the two girls were about to give birth, he would definitely go back! Nobody could stop him at all.
“You’ve spent three years on the second level of the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda, which is only equivalent to one year outside,” Elder Huo added.
The moment Elder Huo’s words left his mouth, a bucket of ice water seemed to have poured down Duan Ling Tian’s head. He had snapped back to the reality completely now.
“Elder Huo! Why didn’t you tell me that you were referring to the time span in the second level of the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda earlier?” Duan Ling Tian snapped.
Just now, he had first thought that three years had passed outside, giving him the fright of his life. After all, he did not even know which direction was home.
“Only a year has gone by outside. Adding on to the time that I spent making the journey, it should be a year and more. That’s still okay… That’s still okay… It’s still early days to Ke’er and Little Fei’er’s due date.” The moment Duan Ling Tian thought of this, he breathed a sigh of relief.
He had already learned that the two girls’ due date would be in the next three to five years. Now that he knew that it had only been just over a year, he was no longer in a hurry.
After leaving the cavern, Duan Ling Tian rose up to the sky and studied his surroundings. In the end, he still continued to head in the direction that he had been heading before.
This time, if he proceeded to head towards other directions, the entire journey that he had traveled beforehand would be in vain.